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[Here, turtlefolk, have a teenage boy who is still a little bit zonked from landing on his ass in the palace. There is a Chinese dragon on his shirt, if anyone's at all interested in dragons. From what can be seen, his suite looks like it's in mild disarray; he got angry enough to break a couple things once he was alone and did not do such a good job cleaning it up from the camera's view. He looks mildly upset.]

I-- I don't understand why I'm here, I--

They gave me this place, they told me I have to work...I'm not really trapped, am I? I can't be. This doesn't make sense.

[He stops talking half-to himself and focuses his attention on the camera again.]

I guess I have to work under the assumption that this is all real, until proven otherwise. Even if I'm still not entirely sure what's going on.

Anyone care to enlighten me? The...kedan...weren't all that helpful.

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I'm... [He sighs and his shoulders slump.] ...yeah, I'm all right. [It's pretty obvious that he's not.]

It's not even the shock. I was just...in the middle of something. Something important. And now they're saying I can't go back to finish it. I can't believe that.

[She doesn't buy that in the least.]

That has to be hard. Everyone's been brought here to help, so hopefully it will happen sooner than later. [Bianca's voice and expression certainly suggests that it better be sooner than later.] I know they said that everything stops until we return, at least.

[She's dubious about that, but it's not evident in her voice.]

[Give him a break, he's not used to mom figures getting all up in his grill about stuff.]

Yeah. I don't know if I buy that. [And at any rate, when he does go back - because it's a when not an if - he kind of hopes he's not going to go back to the exact moment when he's getting repulsor-ed through a wall. Even through armor, that bruises.]

[Better get used to it happening, Bianca's entered your life. No turning back now.]

I don't either, but there's no way we can know for sure either way.

[There is suddenly a great disturbance in the Force, as though this dude internally screamed in terror and was suddenly silenced.]

So we just have to trust these people?

They're still people.

Just because we're here because of what's going on here and it involves them, it doesn't mean we should treat them with disrespect.

If there's one thing I know about people, it's that most of them are awful. If that's changed here, this place would be really unusual.

[Meanwhile, he keeps his face carefully neutral:] I'm not going to disrespect [oooh that word, that is not a word he likes, and it shows] anyone, but I'm not going to blindly trust them, either. They want something from us, so it's in their interest to keep us all safe and well-kept in a gilded cage. [He waves a hand, indicating the relative opulence of his Fire Sector suite. And unwittingly, a couple of the broken things in the background.]

The best any of us can do as people is to prove that idea wrong.

[What has this boy been through that he's so distrustful and cynical so young? There's a difference between being just angry at the world and this.]

I'm not saying that you have to trust every single person that comes into your life, but you shouldn't distrust everyone.

[Her expression does soften with more concern at the broken things he's unintentionally landed attention on.] This place might look like it is a gilded cage, but we don't have to let it be one, even if we're stuck here for the time being. If you stay angry at everything and don't work past it, that's all it will be.

[People. Bah. Good luck trying to talk the poster boy for misanthropy around, Bianca, you'll need it. His break with his friends has undone all of his progress and then some.]

Every time I trust someone, it ends up burning me. [You also have a bad habit of burning everyone who trusts you, Gene. But that's a moot point.]

[And perhaps here's a little more honesty than he'd have with someone who isn't a mom figure:] The one thing I've been trying to do all my life, and I'm abducted in the last five minutes. [He laughs bitterly.] How can I not be angry?

[She's got time and patience; as long as he doesn't shut her out immediately she can work with this.]

You're allowed to be angry and upset, especially if this pulled you away from something important. It's just not healthy to stay that way forever.

[Oh God, she's moming at him. He hasn't had anyone actually parenting him for about ten years. Zhang had only ever been interested in keeping him out of the way.

HELP. ADULT IS SHOWING CONCERN. DEFAULT TO INNOCENT TEENAGER MODE.]

I know, I...

[He sighs. He is especially good at clinging to grudges, so this is weird advice to try and internalize.]

I know.

[The Reyes do their best to be good people and help others out who need it. Gene needs it.]

If you need anything, just let me know. I'm in EA-1A.

I'm Bianca Reyes, but please, just call me Bianca.

[No he doesn't. He's been doing just fine on his own. Just. Fine.]

Gene Khan, FI-1C.

Uh. Thanks.

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